A method begins by determining to rebuild a slice or slices to at least one of multiple distributed storage network (DSN) memory locations. The method continues by calculating a future risk estimation of each one of the multiple DSN memory locations, the future risk estimation including one or more risk factors. The method continues by determining a selection of which of the multiple DSN memory locations to rebuild and rebuilding the slice in the DSN memory of the selection.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for execution by one or more processing modules of one or more computing devices of a dispersed storage network (DSN), the method comprises: retrieving, by a rebuild module, one or more sets of slices from one or more DSN memory data sources of multiple DSN memory data sources located on one or more DSN memories of one or more DSN memory locations of multiple DSN memory locations, wherein a DSN memory location of the multiple DSN memory locations includes a plurality of storage devices; determining, by a rebuild module, that a slice of the one or more sets of slices requires rebuilding; when the one or more sets of slices were retrieved from two or more DSN memory locations of the multiple DSN memory locations: estimating, by the rebuild module, a DSN memory location future risk of each one of the two or more DSN memory locations, wherein the DSN memory location future risk is estimated based on one or more DSN memory location risk factors; and when the one or more sets of slices were retrieved from two or more DSN memory data sources: estimating, by the rebuild module, a DSN memory data source future risk of each one of the two or more DSN memory data sources, wherein the DSN memory data source future risk is estimated based on one or more DSN memory data source risk factors; and determining, based on one or more of: the DSN memory location future risk and the DSN memory data source future risk, a selection of which DSN memory of the one or more DSN memories of the one or more DSN memory locations to rebuild; and rebuilding the slice in the DSN memory of the selection, wherein the slice is rebuilt by dispersed storage error decoding at least a decode threshold number of slices of a set of the one or more sets of retrieved slices to produce a data segment, and dispersed storage error encoding the data segment to produce the slice, wherein the decode threshold number of slices is a minimum number of slices of the set of one or more sets of retrieved slices required to reconstruct the data segment.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection of which DSN memory of the one or more DSN memories of the one or more DSN memory locations to rebuild comprises selecting the DSN memory based on a DSN memory location that equates to a lower probability of impending data loss.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection of which DSN memory of the one or more DSN memories of the one or more DSN memory locations to rebuild comprises: evaluating the two or more DSN memory locations for rebuilding the slice and prioritizing rebuilding of the slice to a DSN memory of a DSN memory location that yielded a greatest longevity estimate for a slice rebuilt there.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection of which of the multiple DSN memory of the one or more DSN memories of the one or more DSN memory locations to rebuild comprises selecting the DSN memory based on a DSN memory location that equates to longevity due to replacement.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein longevity due to replacement comprises a lower likelihood of any of: updating, overwriting or replacement.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein a frequency of the overwriting or replacement does not go below a R/W (read/write) threshold.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more DSN memory location risk factors includes any of: hardware class of a site of each of the two or more DSN memory locations, a ds (dispersed storage) unit of each of the two or more DSN memory locations, or a memory device where the slice will be rebuilt within each of the two or more DSN memory locations.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more DSN memory location risk factors includes any of: age of: a site of each of the two or more DSN memory locations, a ds (dispersed storage) unit, or a memory device where the slice will be rebuilt within each of the two or more DSN memory locations.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more DSN memory location risk factors includes any of: whether a site or ds (dispersed storage) unit of each of the two or more DSN memory locations is subject to frequent power outages, whether the site or the ds unit is subject to frequent network connectivity outages.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more DSN memory location risk factors includes a physical location of where the slice will be rebuilt, and whether it is subject to any of: adverse weather conditions, natural disaster predictions, or instability.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more DSN memory location risk factors are weighted to be of a higher or lower likelihood relative to other elements used for evaluation.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the higher or lower likelihood relative to other elements used for evaluation is based on future predictability.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more DSN memory location risk factors includes selectable combinations of a plurality of the one or more DSN memory location risk factors.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection of which DSN memory of the one or more DSN memories to rebuild comprises selecting the DSN memory based on a DSN memory data source that equates to a lower probability of impending data loss.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection of which DSN memory of the one or more DSN memories to rebuild comprises: evaluating the two or more DSN memory data sources for rebuilding the slice and prioritizing rebuilding of the slice to a DSN memory based on a DSN memory data source that yielded a greatest longevity estimate for a slice rebuilt there.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection of which DSN memory of the one or more DSN memories to rebuild comprises selecting a DSN memory based on a DSN memory data source that equates to longevity due to replacement.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein longevity due to replacement comprises a lower likelihood of any of: updating, overwriting or replacement.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more DSN memory data source risk factors includes any of: hardware class of a site of each of the two or more DSN memory data sources, a ds (dispersed storage) unit of each of the two or more DSN memory data sources, a memory device where the slice will be rebuilt within of each of the two or more DSN memory data sources, age of a site of each of the two or more DSN memory data sources, age of a ds (dispersed storage) unit, age of a memory device where the slice will be rebuilt within of each of the two or more DSN memory data sources, whether a site or ds (dispersed storage) unit of each of the two or more DSN memory data sources is subject to frequent power outages, whether the site or the ds unit is subject to frequent network connectivity outages, adverse weather conditions, natural disaster predictions, or instability.
19. A computing device of a group of computing devices of a dispersed storage network (DSN), the computing device comprises: an interface; a local memory; and a processing module operably coupled to the interface and the local memory, wherein the processing module functions to: retrieve one or more sets of slices from one or more DSN memory data sources of multiple DSN memory data sources located on one or more DSN memories of one or more DSN memory locations of multiple DSN memory locations, wherein a DSN memory location of the multiple DSN memory locations includes a plurality of storage devices; determine that a slice of the one or more sets of slices requires rebuilding; when the one or more sets of slices were retrieved from two or more DSN memory locations of the multiple DSN memory locations: estimate a DSN memory location future risk of each one of the two or more DSN memory locations, wherein the DSN memory location future risk is estimated based on one or more DSN memory location risk factors; when the one or more sets of slices were retrieved from two or more DSN memory data sources: estimate a DSN memory data source future risk of each one of the two or more DSN memory data sources, wherein the DSN memory data source future risk is estimated based on one or more DSN memory data source risk factors; and determine, based on one or more of: the DSN memory location future risk and the DSN memory data source future risk, a selection of which DSN memory of the one or more DSN memories of the one or more DSN memory locations to rebuild; and rebuild the slice in the DSN memory of the selection, wherein the slice is rebuilt by dispersed storage error decoding at least a decode threshold number of slices of a set of the one or more sets of retrieved slices to produce a data segment, and dispersed storage error encoding the data segment to produce the slice, wherein the decode threshold number of slices is a minimum number of slices of the set of one or more sets of retrieved slices required to reconstruct the data segment.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
July 20, 2016
October 29, 2019
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